This morning it was back on the coach for some travel time to Venice; we went straight to the hotel to drop off our stuff so we could get the ferry to take us over to the city of canals. We, like most tourists, stay off the actual island of Venice because it is so tiny. I had been to Venice years ago as a kid and it was weird how familiar things were on the ferry ride over. First Ryan took us past the famous Bridge of 
Sighs then to St. Mark’s square, which would be our meeting place for later. After a crazy night in Florence I was ready for a relaxing stroll through Venice.
After walking through Venice it was time for a new perspective, seeing Venice from the canals. Ryan is amazing and he treated each gondola to a bottle of champagne for the ride. Jen, Dan, Desiree, Erika, James, and I were in a gondola together and tried to get our gondolier to sing, but he said only in the shower. No worries, Jen had been practicing her Italian phrases from “Ryno in your Pocket” and told our gondolier in Italian “The gondola is sinking!!” He obviously didn’t believe it but he played along and proceeded to tip us sideways almost out of our gondola. Jen and Desiree’s faces were priceless.
After our gondola rides, Ryan said we had the opportunity to see a glass blowing demonstration, which Venice is famous for. It was amazing to watch how a blob of nothing because a colorful, beautiful snail within minutes. The rest of the glass gallery was amazing, but be cautious of the “you break it, you buy it” rule. The most expensive item I saw was a 59,000 Euro chandelier!! To end 
our day in Venice we went to another group dinner, where we were served platter after platter of pastas and meats. We even got serenaded by a man with a clarinet. We took a ferry back to the hotel and now I’m ready to catch up on some sleep before we head to Austria tomorrow. I’m looking forward to the activities like white water rafting and mountain biking in the countryside of Austria!
Sighs then to St. Mark’s square, which would be our meeting place for later. After a crazy night in Florence I was ready for a relaxing stroll through Venice.For lunch we just got some take away of paninis and pizza so we could wander, but when we ended up in a dead end we stopped to finish off our lunch as well. We hung around St. Mark's Square for a while with all the crazy pigeons. When James saw a kid walking around with a pigeon on his head James was determined to get on too. After a bag of food and like 15 minutes later, James finally got a pigeon to jump on his head for a few seconds, haha. Of course souvenir shopping took place; Jen and 
Desiree got great Venetian masks with these really long Pinocchio noses. I stopped along the way at an ATM to pick up some more Euros for the rest of the trip. **Travel Tip: When taking money out of the ATM if your card is rejected more than once, then move to a new machine because the ATM could eat your card, and then you’re out of luck.** Shopping makes people hungry so we stopped to fill up on gelato, which is amazing and I will miss it dearly when we leave Italy tomorrow.
Desiree got great Venetian masks with these really long Pinocchio noses. I stopped along the way at an ATM to pick up some more Euros for the rest of the trip. **Travel Tip: When taking money out of the ATM if your card is rejected more than once, then move to a new machine because the ATM could eat your card, and then you’re out of luck.** Shopping makes people hungry so we stopped to fill up on gelato, which is amazing and I will miss it dearly when we leave Italy tomorrow. 
After walking through Venice it was time for a new perspective, seeing Venice from the canals. Ryan is amazing and he treated each gondola to a bottle of champagne for the ride. Jen, Dan, Desiree, Erika, James, and I were in a gondola together and tried to get our gondolier to sing, but he said only in the shower. No worries, Jen had been practicing her Italian phrases from “Ryno in your Pocket” and told our gondolier in Italian “The gondola is sinking!!” He obviously didn’t believe it but he played along and proceeded to tip us sideways almost out of our gondola. Jen and Desiree’s faces were priceless. 
After our gondola rides, Ryan said we had the opportunity to see a glass blowing demonstration, which Venice is famous for. It was amazing to watch how a blob of nothing because a colorful, beautiful snail within minutes. The rest of the glass gallery was amazing, but be cautious of the “you break it, you buy it” rule. The most expensive item I saw was a 59,000 Euro chandelier!! To end 
our day in Venice we went to another group dinner, where we were served platter after platter of pastas and meats. We even got serenaded by a man with a clarinet. We took a ferry back to the hotel and now I’m ready to catch up on some sleep before we head to Austria tomorrow. I’m looking forward to the activities like white water rafting and mountain biking in the countryside of Austria!
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